Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Come help beautify the community and protect local trees by participating in the "Columbia Street Tree Brigade" this Saturday, 4/30/11 starting at 10am. We will be focusing our efforts this time around on Columbia St. between Union and Hamilton (last year's events covered Atlantic to Union).

Mulch and tools are being generously provided by the Partnership for Parks. Donations of used newspaper and cardboard are more than welcome - as this can be used for extra weed protection!

All ages are welcome - last year the kids loved it!

Saturday, 4/30/1110 AM - until supplies run outMeet at Woodhull and Columbia

The Columbia St. Tree Brigade is a project of the COWNA environment committee.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Northern section of Columbia Street, between Degraw Street and Atlantic Avenue, has seen a 24 percent increase in population growth, which is one of the biggest increases anywhere in Brooklyn. The section between Degraw Street and Hamilton Avenue grew by 4 percent, which is more than nearby Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.

Last year we got really excited when the city's Department of Transportation set aside some cash and contracted transportation consultants to look into a plan to install streetcars in Red Hook to connect the isolated 'hood to the Smith-9th Street subway station and Downtown Brooklyn. But according to a DOT report released last week (PDF here) the project isn't viable.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

New York finally catches up with Juneau, Alaska and will implement the provision of shore power for ships docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Two years of negotiations and diligent attention to the issue by our elected officials and local activists have resulted in a deal in which the EDC and the New York Power Authority will subsidize a portion of the cost.

More detail about the agreement can be found in today's NY Times article.

Apparently the delays in reaching agreement centered around establishing a rate for the power and then figuring out who would pay for it. To put it into context, 28 cents per KWH is around 3 times the residential rate. The cruise ship operator will pay 12 cents and the balance will be picked up by the EDC and the NYPA. We find it hard to believe that so much time was wasted over figuring out who would pay for this. Using the numbers in the NY Times article, cruise ships are expected to visit the terminal about 40 times next year. If each ship has approximately 2,000 passengers (the capacity of the QM2 is 3,000) that works out to 80,000 passengers. If the cost of shore power is $1M over diesel, it represents an additional cost of $12.50 per passenger. Surely the cruise ship operators could pass this trivial amount along to their customers without compromising competitiveness.

The Columbia Waterfront neighborhood thanks Nydia Velazquez, Daniel Squadron, Brad Lander, their staffs and the other public officials who worked so hard to achieve what we hope is a successful first step toward establishing shore power throughout the ports of New York and New Jersey.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

It's bad enough that we suffer the nuisance of the giant salt pile, truckers ignoring the truck routes to use narrow Columbia Street and drivers attempting to avoid BQE congestion. Now we must suffer the incessant noise of helicopters toting tourists around the harbor.

The flyovers on Saturday and Sunday occurred at roughly 3 - 5 minute intervals. It may be that the milder weather has made this problem more apparent here. It is not a new issue, however. See this article in the Brooklyn Heights Blog, this statement from EDC and their helicopter sightseeing plan.

Take note that the plan requires helicopters to take off to the south and maximize distance from Brooklyn Bridge Park and not fly over Brooklyn.

To register complaints about the noise, call 311. It helps to identify the helicopters, if possible. This shouldn't be too hard, some of them seemed to be flying at an altitude of only a few hundred feet.

Join fellow greenway supporters for food and wine from Brooklyn Winery, beer from Brooklyn Brewery, live music from MUNY artist Gabriel Aldort and more! And, weather permitting, Brooklyn Winery's expansive courtyard will be open to help celebrate the arrival of spring!

An array of unique Brooklyn-themed raffle items will be featured, including a Brooklyn Historical Society family membership, gift certificates to Brooklyn Winery and Film Biz Prop Shop, your own custom designed hat from Hats by Nadege, a bicycle necklace crafted by Karen Overton and more!

Guests can also learn about the BGI & Recycle-A-Bicycle (RAB) collaborative project engaging students from International High School in the greenway planning process. RAB bicycle jewelry, including bracelets from inner tubes, earrings & necklaces from small bicycle parts will be on sale to support this joint endeavor.

About CoWNA:

The formation of the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association was rooted in the wave of community involvement in the Pier 7-12 redevelopment forums co-hosted by the EDC and CB6 during 2005/2006. Since then, CoWNA has grown into an active and participatory neighborhood advocacy group representing the wide array of concerns and interests of the people and businesses who proudly call the Columbia Waterfront home.